NILE CRUISE, EGYPT

To finish my travel posts from this summer trip, I’ll tell you about my birthday week which we pretty much spent on a Nile cruise. How amazing is that!? I’ve always, ALWAYS wanted to go on a Nile cruise, ever since reading and watching Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile (2004 version) and finally my dream came true!

We (me and Joe) began looking at different cruises whilst in Indonesia, and soon realised that you need to inquire the prices from different companies and we weren’t having that at all. We like to see the price right there and decide if we want to book it. Finally we found a perfect company and a beautiful, vintagy looking ship in booking.com called Minerva, ran by the 5* hotel company Steigenberger.

Our four days cruising on Minerva (from Luxor to Aswan) cost around 200 euros per person without a guided tour, which we did end up adding. Booking a guide was a great idea; it gives you a more thorough and deeper vision of the ancient ideas and events (DM me for more info regarding the historical temples we saw during the cruise).

Before boarding the luxurious boat we spent a couple of nights in a 4* hotel in Luxor, laying by the pool (which was on the Nile!?) and walking around the town – we even went for an afternoon tea in the legendary Winter Palace hotel! Oh my god, I fell in LOVE with the gorgeous Victorian building and decoration. Did you know that Howard Carter announced his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamon on the steps of that hotel?

What a gorgeous man I’ve got!

On my birthday we had a morning tour around Aswan and the rest of the afternoon we drank cocktails by the pool and enjoyed the view of the Nile. The service of the cruise was the best I’ve ever experienced; I only messaged them before boarding to double check if vegetarian meals are possible and throughout our stay the manager of the delicious buffet gave me a tour of the dishes, even though most of the food were vegetarian anyway! They knew exactly who was who, and they were so kind to every person onboard. The staff even organised a surprise dance and a cake for the birthday heroes, which I gladly got to experience! A definite YES for Minerva!

Bye, bye, Egypt! We loved you, and we’ll definitely come back! …And stay in the Winter Palace or the Old Cataract…